


Locked In

by anonymouschupacabra (accordingtomyresearch)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2017-02-21
Packaged: 2018-09-25 22:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9850073
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/accordingtomyresearch/pseuds/anonymouschupacabra
Summary: “So,” Hunk exhaled, lifting his head from his hands and looking at the locked doors across the deck and below them. “We are, for all intents and purposes, locked inside the training deck?”“Looks like,” Keith nodded.





	

**Author's Note:**

> [for The Primary Big Bang!!!!](http://voltronbigbang.tumblr.com/l)

“Now remember to mind all the alarms, and the security cameras, and keep watch on that leak in the kitchen, I don’t want food goo going everywhere,” Allura instructed as she tied her long silver hair up into a bun on top of her head. She eyed the three paladins in front of her, each with a look of exasperation on their face.

“Yes of course,” Hunk sighed, leaning back against the control panel, feeling bored after hearing the same instructions for the dozenth time.

“And remember that I’m doing a diagnostic on the Com. System so there might be some interference or patchy service so com communication might not work,” Allura said, again, for the millionth time.

“We know,” Keith said feeling like that was all he had been saying for the past few minutes.

“Also the internal voice activated command system has been under repair so anything you want done has to be done manually,” Allura said earning a groan from the three paladins. “Don’t forget that you have to open the control box to manually open and close each door. And that they are located on the right outside of each door.”

“Yes mom,” Lance said sarcastically, crossing his arms across his chest and leaning his side against Hunk. “You told us all this a million times already. The alarms, the diagnostics, the food goo. We know all this already.”

“I’m just repeating myself to make sure you all definitely know everything,” Allura said making eye contact with all three of them. “We don’t want a repeat of the Jutar incident.”

“Hey, we all know that that was totally Keith’s fault,” Lance said, gesturing at Keith with his thumb.

“What?” Keith said indignantly, spreading his arms and looking at Lance with betrayal, “It so wasn’t.”

“You were the one that thought that ‘Kiptar’ meant bathroom,” Lance said with a shrug, “I think that makes it all your fault.”

“It had a picture of what looked like a toilet under it!” Keith said incredulously, “What was I supposed to think!?”

“This is all besides the point,” Allura interjected frowning at the both of them, “My conscience is clear, I’ve explained to you all numerous times what you need to know. If anything goes wrong it is entirely your fault.” She addressed her words to each of the paladins, looking between them with a serious look on her face.

“Aye aye captain,” Lance nodded, giving her a double thumbs up, “Don’t worry we have this all under control. I can run this castleship with my eyes closed.”

“Right,” Allura said skeptically. “Now Coran and I are going to a diplomatic meeting, which means we can’t respond immediately if there is a distress signal. And Shiro—”

“Will be going as your guys guard and he won’t be here to bail us out of any so called _‘shenanigans’_ ,” Lance finished for her. “Yes we know this all, already.”

“Fine alright,” Allura sighed. “You have been paying attention.” The three of them nodded vigorously.

“Princess, we have to leave now if we want to make it to the consulate ship in time,” Coran said popping his head into the Paladin Lounge room through the open doorway.

“Yes, yes. I’m coming right now,” Allura said smoothing down the front of her dress, “I’ll meet you at the bay doors in a moment.

“Of course,” Coran nodded. “Did you tell them everything?”

“Yes,” Allura said.

“About the alarms? The Diagnostics? The food goo leak?” Coran enumerated.

“Yes all of those,” Allura nodded, hearing a groan from the three paladins.

“Excellent,” Coran said. “Alright, well I’ll see you three later.”

“Bye Coran,” Lance said in a monotone voice as Hunk waved to him.

“Ok, so I won’t repeat myself—” Allura began.

“But you will,” Keith said dryly.

“—but I just want to make sure that you three know and understand everything I’ve told you and that you are prepared to deal with things in a mature, responsible way, on your own.”

“Pfft, we form Voltron, like, on the reg,” Lance scoffed. “You don’t think we can do a little house sitting?”

“We got this covered,” Hunk said trying to sound confident enough for the three of them. “Go to your diplomatic mission. We got this.” Hunk and Allura shared a look as they glanced between Keith and Lance. “Well...I got this.”

“Thank you Hunk,” Allura said placing her hand on Hunk’s shoulder. “I’ll see you all later.” She stepped through the doorway and then paused, turning back towards them to say something else. "Oh and I don't think this needs repeating, but please don't bother Pidge in her lion bay. We _really_ don't want a repeat of the Pomlous incident." They all shuddered. "Right, ok now bye!" 

“Bye! Have fun storming the castle!” Lance waved as Allura walked out of the lounge.

“What are you talking about?” Keith asked looking at Lance with annoyed confusion once Allura was out of earshot. “She’s not storming the castle, she’s going on a diplomatic mission”

“It’s a cinematic reference,” Lance said haughtily, dropping himself down onto the circular couch.

“To what?”

“You’re joking,” Lance said flatly, staring darkly at Keith. He only received a shrug in return, “The Princess Bride!?”

“Is that a show?” Keith asked looking between Lance and Hunk, who had sat across from Lance, hoping to not get dragged into one of their stupid arguments again.

“What!? It’s a—I can’t even believe—what did you even do on earth!?” Lance huffed, looking up at Keith with confusion, “Like did you live under a rock, with no television? No internet?”

“I had internet,” Keith said crossly.

“But you didn’t watch movies?” Lance asked incredulously, “Did you have any sort of pop culture education?”

“Guys,” Hunk began, feeling drained already. “Can we like...not...argue?”

“I’m not arguing, I’m merely pointing out the error in Keith’s ways,” Lance smirked, leaning back against the couch.

“I’m going to the training deck,” Keith said flatly, pivoting in place and walking straight out of the lounge. Hunk let out a long sigh, glancing over at Lance who looked like he wasn’t ready to concede the discussion just yet.

“Do you always have to push his buttons?” Hunk asked tiredly, “Can’t you just let the guy live?”

“What?” Lance asked, put his hands up in question, “I’m just having a friendly conversation with him.”

“No, you’re antagonizing him,” Hunk frowned, “Like you always do.”

“No I don’t,” Lance huffed.

“Why do you have to rile him up?” Hunk asked, “Can’t you just leave him alone?”

“I’m not doing anything!” Lance said defensively.

“Maybe it's pigtail pulling?” Hunk said suggestively. “You know, because back at the Garrison when you had a—”

“No I didn't, and I don't anymore,” Lance interrupted, “So…. drop it.”

“Whatever you say,” Hunk said clearly not convinced.

“Ugh, I’m going to get a snack.” He jumped up off the couch and made his way towards the doors, about to turn left towards the kitchen.

“Food goo leak,” Hunk said flatly.

“Ugh,” Lance groaned, throwing his hands in the air. “Fine I’m going to my room then.” He turned right and began walking down the hall, “Snackless!”

Hunk let out a heavy sigh and sunk further into the couch, silently hoping that the several hours he had been tasked to watch the castleship would go by not only quickly, but drama free.

 _Maybe everyone will stay out of everyone’s way_ Hunk thought fleetingly, settling in for a nap.

* * *

 

Hunk awoke some time later, feeling distinctly hungry and with the vague notion that something was wrong somewhere in the castle. As he cracked his neck and stretched his arms, pulling the sleep from his muscles, he slowly made his way out of the paladin lounge, stopping briefly to go into the control box on the right side of the door to manually close the door behind him.

He strolled through the castleship, doing the rounds of checks that Allura had assigned them to do, knowing that Lance most likely hadn’t done them and Keith had probably forgotten about them. But Hunk didn’t mind, he liked easy simple tasks and he loved checking things off lists, and Allura assigned them something that combined both of those things together. And so Hunk walked through the castleship, stopping in the command room to check that no alarms had been set off, that there was nothing weird in the security cameras, and that the diagnostics were still running. Seeing that nothing was out of the usual, Hunk happily left the command room, heading for the kitchen to check on the food goo leak when he heard a strange piercing beeping coming from somewhere off in the castleship.

Hunk quickly jogged back into the command room to see if any alarm had been tripped, but he scanned the controls and saw that nothing was out of order.  Frowning and feeling confused Hunk clicked through the windows of diagnostics trying to see if it was just some sort of horrible Altean alarm for the end of a test. But seeing nothing, he grew more frustrated but the incessant beeping.

“Um, can someone help me!?” he heard Keith’s voice yell distantly.

His eye’s grew wide at the panic in Keith’s voice, and he made a beeline for the exit, not even bothering to go into the control box to close the doors to command room. He headed for the training deck, remembering that that’s where Keith said he was going, and hoped he was still there. Running to the source of the noise, he took the steps down two at a time, the sound of the beeping growing louder with each step closer.

“Keith!” Hunk shouted as he ran towards him. The open doorway to the training deck was being flooded with blue and red lights, blinking alarmingly. Keith had his hands elbow deep in the control box outside the door, wires of all colors hanging out of the box as Keith pulled and plugged things with no affect to the lights or the alarm. “What happened!?”

“Oh thank god you’re here,” Keith said with a heavy exhale. “I don’t know what happened. I was trying to see if the voice command box could be activated manually through this control box and then this beeping went off and when I tried to fix it then the lights started flashing and I didn't know what I did wrong ahhhh help me!”

“Oh gosh ok, um,” Hunk said opening the control box a bit more to see inside.

Wires were everywhere and he couldn’t tell where one ended and another began. Everything was disastrous and if it wasn't for that incredibly jarring beeping noise, Hunk would have suggested leaving it for Coran to fix when they came back.

“Dude what the fuck,” Lance's voice came from behind them. “What the hell is happening?”

“Apparently,” Hunk began, his voice tight as he concentrated on rewiring, “Keith tried to activate the voice commands manually, but since it’s still under repair it’s not working properly. But now the wiring is all… weird.”

“Damn it Keith, what did you do?” Lance groaned.

“Nothing!” Keith defended.

“Wait, I think...I think I got it,” Hunk said connecting two blue wires together. Instantly the fire sprinklers went off and cold water rained down on them. “Ok, no, wait… that’s not right.”

“Hunk! What the hell!?” Lance shouted over the sound of the water and the beeping.

“I’m trying to— ow— fix it—ow, ” Hunk said in between being zapped by the wires interacting with the water droplets. “Ok—ow—I think I got it now—ow.” As he said that the water shut off and the beeping stopped, but the flashing lights continued.

“Better,” Keith nodded, looking up at lights.

“Well now we’re soaked though,” Lance frowned, holding the sides of his jacket away from his body.

“Yeah, sorry about that,” Hunk said sheepishly, “My Altean is still pretty iffy so I took a chance on one of the wire labels; it was either going to say fire sprinklers or complete shutdown of all systems.”

“Well you weren’t wrong,” Lance chuckled. Hunk shrugged, pushing all the leftover wires into the control box, deciding that flashing lights wasn’t so bad and could be dealt with later.

“So what now?” Keith asked, running a hand through his wet hair.

“Um, I’m not sure,” Hunk said frowning at the control box as if it would somehow have the answers displayed on the cover, “I think that the voice command controls for just the training deck might be located inside, like in that control booth that oversees the whole gym.”

“Yeah that makes sense,” Keith nodded, pulling at the front of his wet shirt so it wouldn’t stick to his body. “Let’s go see.”

“Shouldn’t we change first?” Lance interjected, taking a step forward as Hunk and Keith started inside for the booth. “You know, out of our wet clothes?”

“Go change,” Keith shrugged. “You don’t have to come.”

“What? And leave you two to either set off all the sprinklers or god knows what else? No thank you, I’m coming with you guys,” Lance scoffed stepping closer.

“Suit yourself,” Hunk said walking in towards the training deck’s overhead booth.

They took slow careful steps, watching their footing so that their wet shoes wouldn’t slip on the slick flooring. The three of them climbed up the spiralling steps to the control booth until they got to the open doorway. Peeling off his uncomfortably wet vest, Hunk, dropped it in the middle of the floor away from any mechanisms and headed straight for what looked like the panel that held most of the controls.

“Ok, so let’s see,” Hunk began thoughtfully, biting his lip as he scanning the glowing array. “Manually activated voice commands...and everything is in Altean. Fantastic.”

“What if you just started clicking things until something happened?” Lance suggested, standing over Hunk’s shoulder.

“This is a room that is used to train soldiers, who knows what you could activate by just tapping on random buttons,” Keith admonished.

“Do you have a better suggestion, genius?” Lance sneered.

“Hmm,” Keith hummed coming over to stand on Hunk’s other side. “What about that button?” he pointed to a particularly large and glowing red button on the top of the dashboard that held some menacing looking Altean writing on it’s face.

“The big red button huh?” Hunk raised his eyebrows and turned his head to glance at Keith, “What could go wrong?”

Reaching forward, Hunk pressed his finger to the glowing red button with bated breath. All three of their bodies stiffened as they waited for something to happen. Each of them turned their heads in every direction, looking for what that large red, glowing button could have done. But after a few moments of silent nothing, the three of them exhaled and their bodies relaxed.

“Well that was a big pile of nothing,” Lance smirked, leaning against the control panel. He leaned back, with his hand placed directly on the dashboard, smirking smugly at Keith, “You’re 0 for 2 now genius—”

Lance was cut off by the sound of pressure releasing. The three of them looked around in a panic trying to figure out what was happening. They watched as all the doors into the training deck simultaneously closed with a resounding bang, effectively locking them inside the room.

“Way to go genius,” Keith chastised Lance after a moment, throwing his words back at him.

“Well how was I supposed to know that there was some sort of shut and lock all doors button on the dashboard!?” Lance said defensively, sounding panicked.

“Maybe because it says “shut and lock all doors” right there,” Keith pointed, gesturing to the blinking white Altean lettering.

Lance was silent for a long moment. “I can’t read Altean.” Hunk and Keith just sighed heavily, dropping their faces into their hands. “Can’t you undo it?”

“It’s a panic button,” Keith said stressing the words. “It’s made so that you can’t undo it without some special code. And my Altean is not that good.”

“Does that mean we have to wait for Allura and Coran?” Lance asked weakly, clearly not relishing the idea of telling them what he had done.

“It’s not like we can contact them,” Keith frowned, scowling at Lance.

“So,” Hunk exhaled, lifting his head from his hands and looking at the locked doors across the deck and below them. “We are, for all intents and purposes, locked inside the training deck?”

“Looks like,” Keith nodded.

“Well shit.”

* * *

“Lance, buddy, no matter how much you bang on it, the doors are not gonna open,” Hunk said tiredly. He was laying on his back, atop a stack of foam landing pads that he and Keith had pulled from the utility closet so that they could wait more comfortably. They had arranged them in a neat pile on the floor in the middle of the deck, and had parked themselves there for the better part of half an hour— the entirety of which, Lance had spent banging on the doors they had come through.

“Maybe if I can just find the emergency release button or something,” Lance said, each word punctuated by a bang on the door.

“Because it would _totally_ be on the actual door,” Keith said sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Guys…” Hunk began warningly.

“Oh you got a better idea?” Lance spun around, glaring at Keith. “Why don’t you go find a control box and pull out all the wires, that worked out so well for you last time.”  
“ _Guys,_ ” Hunk said again, a little louder.

“Maybe you should just lean on the door, it’ll probably be easier for you to hit the button that way,” Keith spat back, sitting up from where he had been laying down to better bicker with Lance.

“Guys!” Hunk shouted, throwing his hands in the air. He knew he caught both their attentions when the whole spacious room fell silent, “Shut your mouths. Arguing isn’t going to solve anything.”

“I’m not arguing,” Lance mumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

“He started it,” Keith frowned.

“I don’t care who started it, I’m going to finish it,” Hunk said threateningly.

“What does that even mean?” Lance asked incredulously, holding his hand up questioningly.

“...I...I don’t know,” Hunk said losing all of the stern, threatening commanding voice he had a second ago. He pushed himself up into a sitting position and gave Lance a pleading look. “But, just stop arguing. Just everything you’re doing. Stop.”

“Fine,” Lance sighed, like it was a grave inconvenience for him to cease his complaining. “But what now? Like we can’t just sit here, for hours, waiting for them to come back? Like, that’s crazy, you know that’s crazy.”

“Then what do you suppose we do?” Keith asked annoyed.

“Well I was doing my plan but apparently it was ‘annoying’ and ‘not solving anything’ or whatever,” Lance said generously applying finger quotes. “So, I’m all tapped out. What do you suggest oh wise one?”

“....I have an idea,” Keith said after a minute.

* * *

 

“This is—”

BANG

“—the worst plan—”

BANG

“EVER!” Lance shouted in between pounding bangs from Keith’s makeshift hammer on the door.  

The terribly crude hammer made from ripped up metal planks wrapped together from wires they had pulled from what Hunk had hoped was from nonessential systems. But at this particular point, he didn’t care. The rhythmic pounding of the hammer was worsening the tension headache that had been forming between Hunk’s eyes since they first heard the doors locking around him. And the bickering between his fellow trapped paladins only added to the sense of itching frustration.

“It seems to be working,” Keith breathed heavily, pausing from trying to beat a hole into the door. His still damp jacket had been discarded a while ago, left out to dry next to Lance’s jacket and Hunk’s vest, leaving him in his now damp from water and sweat tshirt.

“It _seems_ to be just making a big ass dent in the door and giving me a headache,” Lance frowned, crossing his arms. He was purposely sat as far away as possible from the door Keith was beating down, sitting cross legged on the floor, leaning against the opposite side door, with his still damp shirt sleeved pushed up and his arms crossed against his chest.

“Guys,” Hunk began with a sigh, sitting up from where he was still laying down on the mats, “We’ve tried breaking down the door—now both with Lance’s fists and Keith’s...hammer thing— clearly these Altean doors are made from some tough stuff. Let’s just wait until they get back to let us out.”

“UGH,” Lance groaned, slumping against the wall and slipping back to lay on the floor. “We’re gonna be in here FOREVER.”

“I guess, this might not be as effective as I had hoped,” Keith sighed, chucking the makeshift hammer onto the floor and walking over to where hunk was laid out. Hunk watched him drop heavily onto the mats, leaning back on his arms and tossing his head back. “We are definitely stuck.”

“Yeah,” Hunk nodded, sitting up.

“So,” Lance began from across the room. “What now?”

* * *

 

“Is it Keith’s jacket?” Hunk guessed.

“Yeah, how’d you know?” Lance asked looking up from where he was laying spread out on his back in the middle of the circle in the training deck.

“Because it’s the only red thing in this room,” Hunk said like it was obvious.

“Oh right,” Lance said putting his head back down and continuing to make snow angel making movements. “Ok you’re turn.”

“Alright,” Hunk said going back to pacing and walking along the luminescent teal light lines on the on the floor. “I spy with my little eye something…blue.”

“Is it Lance’s shirt?” Keith said from where he was doing sit ups near to where Lance was laying down.

“No… it was Lance’s pants but yeah close enough,” Hunk sighed.

“This is so _boring,_ ” Lance groaned, tossing his arms in the air. “Everything in this room is either, white, black or Keith’s jacket, I spy was a bad choice of game.”

“You picked it,” Keith said tossing him a light glare.

“I make mistakes,” Lance said, rolling his eyes.

“Clearly,” Keith mumbled under his breath, returning to his sit ups.

“Guys come on, there’s gotta to be some other game we can play to pass the time,” Hunk suggested, spinning in place and pacing in the other direction, placing one foot in front of the other on the line.

“Oh! I got a game!” Lance said excitedly, jumping up from where he was laying down. “It’s called Fuck, Marry, Kill and it’s super fun you’ll see. Ok, so who would you fuck, marry and kill out of Shiro, Allura and—”

“Nope, nope not playing that,” Hunk shook his head, cutting Lance off before he could finish. “Pick something else.”

“Fine,” Lance huffed. “What about 20 questions?”

“No that game is annoying,” Keith said.

“Would you rather?” Lance offered.

“No,” Hunk shook his head. “Your would you rather’s are always grotesquely disproportionate.”

“What? No they’re not,” Lance scoffed.

“ _Would you rather never eat chocolate again or get flung into the sun?_ ” Hunk said mimicking Lance’s voice. “See? Grotesquely disproportionate.”

“Fine,” Lance sighed annoyedly. “What about strip poker?” he grinned.

“We don’t have any playing cards,” Keith frowned standing up from the floor and stretching out his arms and back.

“Also Lance you’re terrible at poker, plus I’ve seen your junk enough times at the Garrison to last me a few lifetimes,” Hunk said with distaste.

“Ye–yeah, no one wants to see that,” Keith said unconvincingly sternly. Hunk glanced at him from the corner of his eye, watching the way he purposely turned away from Lance.

“Ugh fine,” Lance rolled his eyes. “What about Never Have I Ever?” He paused to look between the other two who were watching him with reserved skepticism. “Yeah?”

“....fine,” Hunk sighed, giving in.

“Whatever,” Keith said turning back to face them completely.

“Awesome! Ok ok, so this is how we’re gonna play it,” Lance said plopping himself down on the floor and gesturing for his friends to do the same. Slowly, Hunk and Keith made their way over to Lance and sat down, crossing their legs beneath them and sitting in a triangle.

“So everyone holds up both hands, with their fingers spread like this.” Lance held up both his hands so that all of his ten fingers were evenly spread out. “Then we take turns saying ‘never have I ever’ and then something you’ve never done. But the trick is to say something that the other people have done, because if you have done the thing, out have to put down a finger. The first person who puts down all their fingers… um… I don’t remember of they win or lose, but let’s say for the purposes of this game that last person who still has fingers up once someone puts down all of theirs wins. Honestly this game is way more fun if you’re drinking but we will just have to make do.”

“So like this,” Keith said holding up his hands, with his fingers spread out, leaning forward slightly and resting his elbows on his knees.

“Yeah exactly,” Lance said wiggling his fingers and getting comfortable, “So you guys understand the rules?” He received nods and annoyed looks telling him that it wasn’t a hard concept to understand. “Ok, then I’ll go first...hmm…. Never have I ever… eaten two pizzas in one sitting.”

“Aw come on that one was aimed at me, unfair,” Hunk frowned putting down his left thumb, leaving nine fingers still up, “Fine, never have I ever cried in a Sephora because they didn’t have my favorite brand of face masks.”

“Touché,” Lance scowled, putting down his right thumb. They both turned to Keith who had been watching them with vague amusement.

“Oh right, my turn,” Keith said looking down to think. “Ok...um… never have I ever gotten...uh...chicken pox.”

“What? You never had the chicken pox?” Lance said as he and Hunk put down their index fingers. “Didn’t your mom like, take you to the house of the kid who had it in preschool so you would get it?”

“No,” Keith said quietly.

“Ok,” Lance shrugged, not noticing Keith’s demeanor. “Hmm, never have I ever ridden a motorcycle.”

“Wait that’s not true,” Hunk said shaking his head. Lance looked at him in confusion. “Remember? When we were rescuing Shiro from that like creepy lab tent thingy in the desert they had him in when he crash landed back on earth? We all escaped death— or at least expulsion— on Keith’s motorbike hover thingy.”

“Oh yeah,” Lance nodded as he remembered. “But it was more like a hoverbike than a motorcycle. It didn’t have any wheels.”

“We’ll let Keith decide, it’s his bike,” Hunk said. They both turned to Keith, who had already put a finger down leaving him with only nine still up.

“I used to call it my motorbike,” Keith said with a shrug.

“It counts, ha take that!” Lance said with a self satisfied huff at Hunk, who only stared at him with a mildly amused half smirk while he put down another finger. “Wait,” Lance said as realization dawned on him and his face scrunched up in thought, “oh shit that counts against me doesn’t it? Yeah you know what, I’m gonna take that ‘take that’ back. It was premature.”

“You’re premature,” Hunk said back.

“I was, I was a tiny baby,” Lance nodded. “Do you feel bad now? Your joke backfired.”

“I meant like you were pre–maturity in like the sense that you’re in the stage before maturity,” Hunk explained watching the grin grow on Lance’s face. “But yes, in a way I’m saying you’re a baby.”

“Bad, that was bad,” Lance laughed. “That was a bad joke. Never have I ever made a terrible joke.”

“That’s not even remotely true,” Keith shook his head looking at Lance with a face of honest confusion, “You make bad jokes all the time. I thought it was your thing.”

“OOOOOH Keith burned you,” Hunk laughed pointing at Lance, “It is your thing. Also,” he lightly smacked Lance’s arm with his untouched hand, “it’s not your turn dummy. Penalty, put down a finger ”

“ _Fine_ ,” Lance huffed, feigning major inconvenience as he put down his middle finger, leaving him with just two upright fingers on his right hand.  “You’re turn Hunk, _I guess_.”

“Thank you Lance,” Hunk said with look of false gratitude, “Ok never have I ever broken a bone.” Both Lance and Keith put down fingers. “Ooh I got you both with that one.”

“Yeah yeah,” Lance said giving Hunk a glare that held no weight, “Don’t worry I’m gonna get the both of you with my next one.” He turned to Keith was looking between them and finally starting to look less like his usual annoyedly unamused, and crossing more into the realm of indifferently entertained. “Ok your turn Keith. Get Hunk,” he added in a conspiratorial whisper.

“Ok,” Keith said furrowing his brow in thought. “Um…. oh I think I have one. Never have I ever been the leg of Voltron.”

“Dude! I said get _Hunk_ ,” Lance said putting down a finger and shaking his head at Keith. “Not the BOTH of us.”

“That was pretty good Keith,” Hunk nodded. “I have to admit, if I’m going down, I’m taking Lance down with me.”

“You are so mean to me, shame on you,” Lance shook his head and tisked at Hunk. “Fine, I got one _Keith—_ if that even is your real name—”

“—It is—”

“—Never have I ever been part alien,” Lance said lifting his arms up in a “fight me” gesture.

“Really?” Keith said dryly, putting down a finger and rearranging his fingers so that the last finger standing was his middle finger and it was pointed directly at Lance’s face. Lance only continued to smirk and shrug his shoulders, ignoring the laughs and “he got you’s” coming from Hunk on his other side.

“Very mature,” Lance said hitting Keith’s fingers with his own in a half hearted attempt to push his hand aside that was betrayed by the amused grin on his face.  

“Extremely,” Keith smirked back smugly, righting his hand and teasingly pushing his middle finger closer to Lance’s face, who could only laugh as he batted it away. Briefly Lance caught a look at Hunk, who was watching him with a knowing grin that made Lance clear his throat to distract from his slight blush. “Ok, my turn. Never have I ever been broken up with.”  
“Ugh, that one hurts,” Lance said placing his untouched left hand on his chest and feigning heartbreak as he put down the last finger on his right hand. “The pain, it’s too recent.”

“Don’t be so dramatic,” Hunk shook his head, putting down a finger of his own.

“Wait, you too Hunk?” Keith asked pointing to Hunk’s hand that had one less finger standing.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “They broke up with me because they said we were more compatible as friends, but was just code for ‘I’m moving’.”

“That’s rough buddy,” Keith said placing his hand sympathetically on Hunk’s shoulder and giving him a small comforting pat.

“Hey, you’re not gonna comfort me?” Lance asked Keith. “I was broken up with too, you know.”

“What happened?” Keith asked.

“It was kindergarten, and we dated for all of lunch and recess, but it still stings,” Lance said wistfully, “And when the bell rung for the end of recess and we had to line up to go back inside, that’s when Carmen Santiago broke my heart…” He looked between keith and Hunk, both of whom had looks that carried less sympathy and were more incredulously amused. “Well, actually her best friend Lisa gave me the post-it note with the break up written on it, but that hurt even worse you know?”

“Wow,” Keith said flatly. “I can see you’re still broken up about this.”

“Literally, ha,” Hunk laughed sticking out his hand for a high five from Keith, who returned it with a smirk. “Get it, cause you were literally broken up with—”

“I got it Hunk,”  Lance said with a flat look in his direction. He turned his gaze to Keith who was looking more and more pleased with every round they played. “So you’ve never been broken up with?”

“Well, yeah,” Keith nodded.

“What? No one ever wanted to part with you and your silken mullet?” Lance joked.

“There was no one to part with,” Keith shrugged. “I’ve never dated anyone.”

“Really?” Lance said, the crack in his voice betraying a level of interest that he had been trying to conceal. “I mean,” he cleared his throat, “really?”

“Yeah, I just,” Keith shrugged again, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand, “never dated anyone. It just never really happened for me.”

“Why, do you like… not date or…?” Lance asked trying not to sound too interested. By the knowing look on Hunk’s face he was not being as subtle as he had hoped.

“Um, I just… never really… I guess, found the right person at the right time,” Keith said. “There was always other things that I was focused on. Dating never seemed like a priority.”

“But you do, um, like you would date? Like if someone were to ask you out, w-would you, you know, go out with them?” Lance asked with a forced nonchalance.  

“Um, I mean, theoretically? Sure, I guess,” Keith said making a sweeping “I don’t know” gesture. “But like, we’re in space. Fighting an evil empire. Being the defenders of the universe. I don’t even think any of us has the time to date.”  
“That’s fair,” Lance said, ignoring the tin-like taste of dismissal on his tongue. “Right, um…” he looked between them, trying to move on and change the subject, “so whose turn is it now?”

“Yours,” Hunk said.

“Oh right!” Lance nodded. “Ok hmm, never have I ever… um…” He glanced at Keith out of the corner of his eye, “gotten into a fight.” Lance watched them both put down a finger. “Hunk! When?”

“You don’t know my life,” Hunk said with a straight face.

“What? Yes I do,” Lance said shaking his head. “When could you have possibly had time to get into a fight without my knowing about it?”

“You know, you weren’t always with me 24/7. There used to be a time when I didn’t know you and spend every waking moment with you,” Hunk laughed.

“Sounds fake, but ok,” Lance said skeptically. “Your turn, Mr. Secret Life.”

“Hmmm ok, um… never have I ever had a crush on someone in this castleship,” Hunk said sliding his eyes over to Lance with a knowing look.

In defiance, Lance refused to put any of his fingers down. Hunk continued to stare at him, every so often glancing down at his fingers and smirking. Lance tried to inconspicuously shake his head at Hunk, ignoring the hot blush that was creeping up his neck and onto his cheeks.

“Oh? Keith did you just put down a finger?” Hunk said motioning for Lance to look at Keith sitting next to him. Against his better judgement, Lance twisted his head slightly, and looked down at Keith’s left hand. And to his amazement, he only had 3 upright fingers left standing.

“Wait what,” Lance said confused as to what exactly that meant. The part of him that was hopeful and thrilled that Keith answered in that way, was being drowned out by the part of him that was convinced Keith misunderstood the question.

“Lance what about you?” Hunk said with a grin.

“What,” Lance swallowed, trying to sound normal and not nervous at all.

“You have a crush on someone right?” Hunk said knowingly. Lance only stared blankly at him. “Allura?”

“Allura,” Lane said flatly, as if he didn’t recognize the name. “Right. Of course yes. Allura.” He put down a finger, glad that Hunk provided him that save— but still annoyed that he made him feel awkward in the first place.

“Ok Keith your go,” Hunk said.

“Ok, never have I ever failed a class,” Keith said after thinking for a moment.

“What? But you got kicked out of the Garrison?” Lance said incredulously.

“Yeah, but I didn’t fail a class,” Keith said with a shrug. “I always got A’s.”

“So why’d you get kicked out?” Lance asked curious.

“It’s kind of a long story…” Keith said evasively, looking down at his hands.

“What’s the short version?” Lance asked.

“I got into a fight,” Keith said.

“Must have been a bad fight,” Hunk said.

“Yeah,” Keith nodded. “It was. Bad enough for me to get kicked out for good. I know it’s in the past now, and we’re here, out in space doing good… but part of me still regrets it.”

“But we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you,” Lance said offering Keith a soft smile. He watched Keith’s face register the smile and slowly return it.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Keith said with a small smile. “Everything happens for a reason right?”

“Of course,” Lance agreed. They shared another brief smile, and Lance could feel the swirling warmth of affection gathering in his gut, before it was interrupted by Hunk reminding them that he was still there.  
“Uh Lance, it’s your turn,” Hunk said waving his hand in front of Lance’s face to get his attention.

“Right,” Lance said looking away and down at his remaining upright fingers. “Never have I ever…” he paused and glanced briefly at Keith in his periphery before exhaling heavily, “kissed anyone.”

“ _What!?”_ Hunk said, almost shouting in his ear. “How is that possible!? What about all those girls you “made out with” at Jessie Novak's party freshman year? Or that one girl from the halloween party that you did the 7 Minutes in Heaven with? OR that date you went on last year that you came back to our room and said something about her lips being like warm cotton candy or something ridiculous like that?”

“Um ok so, I lied, she went to kiss me then got so nervous she hyperventilated for 6 minutes, and I didn’t kiss her but she did leave the ‘date’ early to go see her boyfriend so I was left at the fair alone with cotton candy,” Lance listed off the real stories, clarifying his previous lies.

“You little liar,” Hunk shook his head, grinning at his friend. “All this time, your ladies man persona has been fake.”

“Well I don’t know about fake,” Lance said rolling his eyes. “The ladies love me. And the guys. And people in general. I’m beloved by all.”

“Let’s not get crazy,” Hunk said with a doubtful look.

“So why lie about kissing those people?” Keith asked.

“Because…” Lance glanced down and saw that Keith only had two fingers upright. He couldn’t help but feel better. “I just didn’t want to seem like someone who people didn’t want to kiss. If that makes sense?”

“It makes sense,” Keith nodded understandingly. He offered him a small, supportive smile and Lance’s mind almost went completely blank.

“Well, never have I ever lied to my best friend,” Hunk said, directing his statement at Lance, who rolled his eyes in response.

“Harmless, completely innocent lies,” Lance said feigning hurt and he put down one of his last few remaining fingers. “They were so innocuous that they would never have done any damage.”

“How do I know that’s not a lie? Huh?” Hunk said crossing his arms. “You could be lying right now. Everything you’ve ever said could have been a lie.”

“Hunk, you’re beautiful,” Lance said gently.

“The first truth you’ve told,” Hunk said nodding his head in agreement with himself. “Your turn Keith, my non-lying friend.”

“Um ok, never have I ever… um…” he looked around, searching for something to say. “I’m running out of ideas.”

“Just say the first thing that comes to mind,” Hunk suggested.

“Ok, um then never have I ever… been arrested?” Keith said like a question, as if he was unsure if that was a good enough answer. Rolling their eyes, both Hunk and Lance put down a finger. “Wait, Lance I believe but even too you Hunk?” Keith said shocked.

“Oh believe it was not my fault,” Hunk said tossing a glare at Lance.

“Hunk, like I said then, I'll say it again: that cop was overreacting,” Lance explained exasperatedly. “There was barely any structural damage in that Denny’s and the amount of broken items was minimal at best.”

“You brought in 3 live chickens and shouted ‘attack my minions!’ in the middle of the dining area.”

“Ok but they didn't attack anything, which is a shame because I thought I had trained them so well,” Lance shook his head. “ _Also_ that crew at that Denny’s had it coming.”

“The whole Denny's?” Keith asked.

“Yeah,” Lance nodded his head frantically. “Anyway so we both have lifetime bans from Denny's now.”

“I'm not exactly sure I even understand what happened,” Keith said looking between them confused.

“It's a long story,” Hunk and Lance said in unison, both with an exasperated sigh.

“Right…” Keith said skeptically. “Anyway, so Lance it's your turn?”

“Yes,” Lance said looking down at the 3 fingers he had left still standing. “Um, never have I ever… crap, I'm also running out of ideas. Um… never have I ever stolen anything.” Only Keith put down a finger leaving him with only one left. “Wow Keith I knew you were the bad boy type— even with your straight A’s and clean criminal record.”

“I'm not the bad boy type,” Keith said glaringly, the words sounding so obviously like a lie to all of them. “I just… when I got booted from the Garrison I needed to tech… and furniture… and food from time to time…”

“Oh my god you were the red bandanna bandit,” Hunk said in sudden realization, pointing one of his few upright fingers at Keith. He only shrugged and nodded.

“The Who now?” Lance asked confused.

“Ok ok so you know how sometimes I would sneak into the commissary and get snacks?” Hunk said looking towards Lance. “Uh, not in a theft kind of way. I would leave money. Usually—ANYWAY a few times I saw this dude completely dressed in black: black t-shirt, black pants, black hair, the works. But the person also wore a red bandanna; it was Keith!”

“Yup,” Keith nodded.

“Amazing,” Hunk said in awe. “The more you know, huh? It my turn right?” The other two nodded at him. “Ok, so never have I ever had a rival.” He grinned at a both of them, chuckling as they both sighed exasperatedly and lowered a finger.

“I mean does it count if you never actually thought you had a rival until that person told you that you were rivals?” Keith asked holding up his last upright finger.

“Yes, yes it does,” Hunk said after pondering it for a moment. “Ok Lance, this might be your last one, so make it a good one.”

“Of course,” Lance said sitting up straighter. “Never have I ever piloted a lion that _wasn't_ the blue lion.” Grinning, he watched both Keith and Hunk put down a finger, grumbling about that one being unfair.

“Ok well I'm out,” Keith said holding up his hands. “So who has the most fingers up still?”

“That would be me,” Lance said wriggling the two upright fingers on his left hand. “I win. Take that Hunk.”

“Take what? I didn't say anything?” Hunk said incredulously.

“Just, take it.”

“Ok? It's taken.”

“Good.”

“Well, this has been fun,” Keith said getting up from the floor. He bent from side to side, cracking and stretching is body. “But I'm gonna try to get back to figuring out a way out of here. I don't think Allura will be all too happy to come rescue us from the training deck.”

“True,” Hunk agreed getting up from the floor as well. “I'm gonna head up to the control deck up there. There's got to be a way to bypass the security controls and override the protocol measures in the lockdown functions. Maybe I can get the doors open if I mess around enough with it.”

“Good idea Hunk,” Keith said. “You know what I'm gonna go see if I can make a better, less crappy hammer thingy. Maybe I can just break down the doors if I hit it enough.”

“Good idea,” Hunk laughed, patting Keith's shoulder. “You go do that, I'm gonna head upstairs.” With that, Hunk turned and headed for the stairs up to the control deck.

“Ok,” Keith said with a brief nod before walking back towards the dented door.

“And I'll just… wait here then…” Lance said slumping against the floor.

* * *

 

It took Lance counting to sixty, sixty times, before he decided he was far too bored to continue laying on the floor. He had been ignoring the sounds of Hunks whizzing and whirling up in the training deck, and steady hammering sounds every so often punctuated with a loud swear from Keith and then a few minutes of silence as he repaired his hammer. But the sounds of his friends doing something to help them get out became too much to ignore.

With a heavy groan, Lance got up from where he had been sprawled out on the floor, stretching and twisting his body, releasing the pent up tension. As he cracked his neck, his eyes settled on Keith across the room. He was sitting cross legged on the floor all the way on the other side of the training deck by the door, with a myriad of makeshift hammer pieces and reject pieces strewn out on the floor around him, with a reasonable sized dent in the door above his head.

He could feel the uncomfortable churning deep in his gut that he usually felt when he looked at Keith. Even just a few hours ago he wouldn't have wanted to admit to having… _feelings_ for Keith. He hadn't even wanted to hear Hunk allude to it earlier. But now, after being locked in, after talking with Keith, after having Hunk very obviously pushing him towards Keith, and after letting his guard down a little bit, Lance could admit to himself that he felt more for Keith then he'd originally been ready to admit.

Keith let out a heavy sigh and ran his hand through his hair, and Lance actually felt himself stop breathing for a second. Feeling stupid, Lance turned around in place and crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn't believe that he almost admitted that he liked Keith _in front of Keith._ All thanks to Hunk.

His posture melted a little bit at the thought. It really was all thanks to Hunk. He knew that Hunk always had his best interest in mind— that's what best friends did. He'd been the one who had encouraged him to go talk to Keith back when they were all at the garrison. Hunk was the one who never let Lance pretend he hadn't had a totally real crush on Keith. And even now, during that game of Never Have I Ever, Hunk had still been nudging them together, still acting like Lance’s wingman; one that Lance was reluctant to have.

“Are you just gonna stand there with your back to me the whole time, or do you want to actually help me?” Keith asked from a little aways behind him.

“Uh,” Lance turned awkwardly in place, lifting his eyes up to meet Keith's gaze from across the room. “Yeah s-sure,” Lance said walking over towards him. Walking uncomfortably quickly to where Keith was sitting, Lance dropped down onto the floor, making sure to keep a good amount of distance between them.

“Want to help?” Keith asked quirking his eyebrow at Lance.  

“Yeah, sure,” Lance nodded looking around at all the scraps of metal on the floor that Keith had been using to build something to break down the door.

“Ok. Here,” Keith handed him a long pipe, a sheet of metal, and a long wire that looked like it had been taken— or more likely ripped out— from the control panel. “Tie that metal with that wire to that pole.”

“Um, ok,” Lance said taking the materials and placing them in front of him on the floor. “In any particular design?” he joked.

“Well, in the design of a hatchet, Lance,” Keith said like it was obvious.

“It was a joke Keith,” Lance chuckled taking the pipe and wire in hand. “Comedy, I'll explain: comedy is—”

“Ok ok I get it,” Keith nodded. Lance could see a small small on Keith's down turned face as he continued to work on sorting through the materials. “I get jokes.”

“Do you get jokes though?” Lance smirked as he began to place the metal on the pole, readying it to be bound in place. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you make a joke before.”

“I make jokes,” Keith huffed, looking somewhat offended. Lance looked at him skeptically. “Occasionally… ok, once maybe.”

“I’m sure you’re a real court jester,” Lance chuckled, nodding his head patronisingly and Keith.

“Well, I just made you laugh,” Keith said with a small shrug. The amused smile on Lance’s face, turned small and fond.

“Yeah you did, you’re right,” Lance agreed still smiling softly, forcing his eyes back down on what he was working on and away from Keith’s face. “I guess I think you’re funny.”

“In an “I’m actually funny” or “you’re making fun of me” kind of way?” Keith asked eyeing Lance.

“Hmmm, both,” Lance said pretending to think hard for a moment. He received an annoyed glare from Keith. “ _I’m joking._ Jeez, you were serious. Jokes really do go over your head.”

“It’s not that exactly, it’s more that…” Keith cut himself off with a light sigh. “Nevermind.”

“You can tell me,” Lance said trying his best to sound as sincere as possible. Keith looked up at him, making eye contact for a long moment, as if deciding if Lance was trustworthy or not.

“Usually when people were laugh after I say something, it wasn’t in an “I’m actually funny kind of way” but more in a “they’re making fun of me kind of way”. So I just,” he shrugged, “I guess I assumed that’s the norm.”

“Dude,” Lance breathed. “That sucks.”

“That’s your best compassionate response?” Keith laughed softly. “That sucks,” he said mimicking Lance.

“You’re right, wait give me a second I can do better,” Lance said trying to control the smile from spreading further on his face. “Ok ok, how about this,” he cleared his throat and tried to conjure up his best serious and empathetic voice. “Oh no, how dare they make fun of your perfect flowing mullet and your belt that doesn’t hold up your pants but sits on top of your shirt for some weird stylistic reason. How. Dare.”

“Very funny,” Keith said, biting into his smile. “You know I don’t think that was better.”

“Oh I have more,” Lance grinned. “How about: how dare anyone tell you that you look like an extra from a My Chemical Romance music video.”

“Hilarious,” Keith smirked, clearly amused.

“How dare they say that you are a total hot head who shoots firsts and asks questions never!”

“Are you done?” Keith asked, hiding his smirk behind his face.

“Yeah I’m done,” Lance giggled. “But just for the record, I would never say any of those things about you.”

“Well thank you for that,” Keith said sarcastically, his smile taking some of the bite out of his words. “I’m positive you never would.”

A warm smile stretched across Lance’s face as he watched Keith go back to focusing on what he was working on. He wasn’t sure if it was the banter or the recent familiarity cultivated between them or even just because they were locked in together and taking chances seemed like something reasonable, but Lance opened his mouth to speak before he thought about what he was saying.

“I don’t… make fun of you,” Lance began. He could see Keith’s hand movements still and his head slowly lift to look up at him. “I’ve never made fun of you. Not behind your back or even to your face. I mean— I’ve taunted you and teased you I guess, but Hunk calls that pigtail pulling.” Keith’s eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Not—not that it is pigtail pulling in the sense that I like you. Um… well… actually, ok what I meant is I think very highly of you. You’re a-an excellent pilot. An-and a great teammate. And...and…” Keith continued to look at him in complete bewilderment

“And… this is not… how I pictured saying this but it’s too late and everything is coming out and I can’t stop myself and it’s like word vomit now and I like you,” Lance said in a rush all in one breath. Keith’s face when from bewildered to completely shocked in less than a second. Nervous doubt flooded Lance’s body, and he could feel the metalic taste of his words still on tongue, tainted with regret. But still he couldn’t stop the flow of words from continuing. “Like, _like you_ kind of like you. Like I mean, like like.”

“Like like,” Keith repeated quietly.

“Um, yeah,” Lance swallowed. There was a long pause.

“Ok,” Keith said quietly.

“Ok?” Lance repeated unsure.

“Yeah,” Keith said carefully. There was another long pause.

“Ok so… you’re ok with th—”

“I like you,” Keith interrupted quietly. Lance felt his jaw snap shut in shock. “ _Like you_ like you… so… yeah.” There was yet, another long pause.

“You… _like me_ like me,” Lance said thickly.

“Um… yeah,” Keith nodded.

“Oh,” Lance swallowed. “Yeah, ok. Cool cool.”

“Yeah,” Keith said looking more nervous than before. “So… what now?”  
“Um,” Lance blinked, trying to process what was happening. “So wait, before, when we were doing the whole Never Have I Ever game thing and Hunk said never ever had I ever had a crush on someone in the castleship and you put down a finger you meant me?”

“Yes? I thought that was obvious,” Keith said furrowing his brow at Lance. “Who did you think I meant?”

“I don’t know? Allura? Shiro? Hunk!?” Lance said throwing his hands in the air.

“What?”

“I don’t know!? People don’t normally tell me that they _like_ like me!” Lance cried out.

The silence between them felt louder than when they had been trying to beat down the training deck doors. They looked at each other, both frozen in shock and nerves, their task forgotten on the floor between them.

“So are you guys gonna like kiss or something?” Hunk’s voice said over the loudspeaker.

Lance almost choked on his own spit at the sound of Hunk’s voice. With the force that he used to snap his neck up towards the control deck above the training grounds, he could almost hear his neck snap. Standing in the control deck window, Hunk was leaning forward, one hand on the mic and the other giving him a thumbs up. Lance felt his face burn redder than it ever had before.

“H–Hunk! What the hell man!?” Lance shouted gesturing wildly up at Hunk. “Why are you listening in on us?”

“I mean I wasn’t trying to, but apparently the training deck is mic’d and I can just hear you guys out of this speaker here on the control deck,” Hunk said pointing to the dashboard in front of him.

“Well dude! Like, turn it off!” Lance yelled.

“I’ve been trying to since I first heard you guys talking,” Hunk said. “But then you guys started flirting and confessing and I figured it was just too late.”

“Ok but did you have to, you know, tell us you were listening?” Lance argued back crossing his arms in front of his chest, feeling more embarrassed than he'd ever been in his life.

“No I guess not,” Hunk admitted.

“Well are you gonna stop eavesdropping or not?” Lance asked.

“Well that depends, are you gonna kiss him or not?” Hunk asked pointing at Keith through the glass.

“Oh my god Hunk,” Lance groaned.

“Ok ok,” I'll figure out how to turn this off, give me a second,” Hunk said moving out of sight from the window.

“Thank you! Jeez!” Lance huffed.

Too embarrassed to turn around and face Keith, Lance just kept his back to him hoping that somehow the redness from his cheeks would leave sometime within the next hour. He was positive he’d never be able to face either of them ever again. If he could melt into the floor and die in that very moment he would.

“I ok I think I figured out how to turn the speaker off,” Hunk said from above them. “Say something to test it.”

“I hate my best friend,” Lance said sticking up his middle finger at Hunk.  

“Ok I can’t hear you but I do know what that means,” Hunk said dryly into the mic. “Enjoy your new found privacy.”

“Ugh I hate him,” Lance shook his head.

“No you don’t,” Keith said from behind him.

“No, I don’t,” Lance sighed. He took a deep breath and chanced turning around to face Keith again. He was met by an equally awkward looking, slightly red Keith so look just about every bit as uncomfortable as Lance. But Lance couldn’t help think that Keith pulled it off. “Sorry about all that though,” Lance said gesturing above him to control deck with his thumb. “He’s kind of been trying to wingman for me this whole time.”  
“He knew you liked me?” Keith asked genuinely surprised.

“Uh, yeah of course,” Lance nodded. “He’s my best friend I tell him everything.”

“Oh,” Keith said. “That could actually explain some things.”

“Like what?” Lance asked suddenly very curious.

“You know,” Keith shrugged nonchalantly, “comments… that he’s made. In reference to you and… me.”

“Hunk isn’t very,” Lance sighed, “subtle.”

“No,” Keith laughed softly. “He’s definitely not.” Seeing Keith laugh seemed to have broke the tension and Lance felt himself visibly relax. A small soft smile grew on his face and he almost forgot that he was thoroughly embarrassed only a few seconds ago. With his newly found confidence he thought he might take a small chance.

“So um, Keith?” Lance began, clearing his throat to get his attention. “Am I um, doing this right?” He picked up the clearly poorly wrapped wire metal pole and showed it to Keith.

“Uh, not exactly no,” Keith admitted after a moment.

“Maybe I can, you know, sit over there and you can show me how to do this properly?” Lance suggested hoping Keith would get the hint. He watched as confusion turned to realization on Keith’s face.

“Oh, yeah,” Keith nodded, moving over slightly and clearing some space on the floor next to him for Lance to sit. “You can sit next to me and I can help you.”

“Cool,” Lance smiled picking himself and the materials up and moving over so he was next to Keith. He left a small gap between them, but they were close enough that when Keith leaned forward to reach for small piece of metal, his arm brushed Lance’s leg. “What’s first?”

“Um… so…” Keith began looking at Lance’s face.

“So…” Lance said back, realizing that they were sitting far closer than he’d realized.

“How about I show you how I built the hammer the first time, and we’ll start from there?” Keith said clearing his throat.

“Yeah,” Lance nodded, feeling a delightfully dizzying combination of hot awkwardness and total comfort with Keith. As Keith began to give him a construction tutorial, Lance fleetingly thought that this was exactly what he had been missing in his life.

* * *

 

“So…” Hunk began leaning back against his arms taking in the scene in front of him. His eyes drifted up from the bigger, yet ultimately unsuccessful dent in the training deck door, down to the broken and fragmented pieces of hammer that were haphazardly thrown across the floor, and then back up to the surprisingly soft sight leaning against the sidewall next to the door of a sleeping Keith with his head laid back against Lance’s shoulder, with Lance’s arm wrapped tightly around him. It was the only sight in that somehow looked fairly normal, given the context. He wasn’t even that surprised. “So, this is a thing now?”

“Hmm?” Lance hummed quietly, lifting his head to look up at Hunk from where his eyes were previously watching the gentle up and downs of Keith’s chest.

“You and your rival?” Hunk said sarcastically, gesturing at the intimate position they were currently in. “You guys are like a thing now?”

“Um yeah, I guess so,” Lance said, barely containing the smile that spread across his face.

“I mean, it took you guys long enough,” Hunk said feigning exasperation. Lance only chuckled in response. “But seriously though, I’m happy for you guys.”

“Thanks,” Lance said. “Even I can admit, this probably wouldn’t have happened without your interference. Your constant, unwanted interference.”

“I think you mean my gentle nudges, and clever wingmanning,” Hunk said placing his hand on his chest. “Also, you’re welcome.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Lance said, the giddy smile betraying any bite that his words had. Hunk just watched him watch Keith sleep against him.

“So I guess, you really weren’t over that crush from the garrison?” Hunk suggested.

“I guess not,” Lance shrugged.

“And the person that Keith likes in the castleship, that’s you.”

“Apparently so.”

“So did you guys share your first kiss yet?” Hunk pried, watching the blush bloom on his friends face.

“What! No, no no no,” Lance practically squeaked. “We didn’t— we haven’t— oh god.”

“Relax, I’m messing with you,” Hunk laughed. “I mean, not everything should change while we’re you know, locked in here. You gotta leave some firsts for beyond the training deck.”

“Yeah I agree,” Lance nodded. “First mutual confession, first boyfriend, first prision break out type scenario. I leave the kissing stuff to out of this room.”

“Boyfriend?” Hunk repeated, with a tone of surprise.

“Oh—um well, you know, not that we decided that we were, you know like, official or anything but I think maybe that—”

“I’m almost positive that Keith thinks of you as his boyfriend,” Hunk laughed. “He probably thinks your guys confession’s were an agreement of a relationship.”

“Yeah, probably,” Lance chuckled fondly looking down at the sleeping boy in his arm. “Boyfriend,” he said after a moment, like he was tasting the word. “I never thought that Keith the totally awesome number one pilot that I had a major crush on would ever be my… boyfriend. This seems totally weird.”

“We literally fly ancient semi sentient magical robotic lions and fight an evil galactic empire on a regular basis and you dating Keith is totally weird?” Hunk asked skeptically.

“Ok well when you put it like that…” Lance laughed.

“Exactly,” Hunk said with a smirk. “Just… just promise me that… look I know you don’t have any experience with this, neither of you do. But just… you’re good for each other, and you’re also teammates. So just… you know…”

“Is this your way of telling me that we shouldn’t make out in public spaces?” Lance asked warily. “Because if so I’ll tell you right now I have every intention of making out with Keith in the main control dash in the command deck. Like that’s just going to happen.”

“Oh god,” Hunk sighed, pretending to be grossed out. “I should have known this was coming I would have otherwise never—”

“Hello? Paladins? Where are you?”

“Is… is that Allura’s voice?” Lance asked looking completely shocked.

“Yeah,” Hunk nodded, looking around the room for the source of the voice. “It seems to be coming from the loudspeaker system that goes through the whole castle.”  
“So they’re back,” Lance said excitedly. “They can free us.”

“Yeah,” Hunk said with the same level of excitement. “We can finally get out of here.”

“Yeah,” Lance said enthusiastically. Hunk watched his face slowly fall, going from happy to conflicted. “But… I almost don’t want to leave.” He looked back down at the sleeping Keith in his arms. “What if… what if this is just an… in here thing? You know, because we’re locked in?”

“I don’t think it is,” Hunk said softly, trying to reassure his friend. “It may have started in here but once we’re not, in here, it’ll still be a thing out there.”

“You really think so?” Lance whispered.

“I really do,” Hunk nodded.

They both shared a brief look with a friendly smile, that said more than they could ever actually say. It told them that they trusted each other. That they had each other’s back. And that even after being locked in for hours, even though they were tired and hungry and really needed to use the bathroom, everything was going to be ok.  

  


**Author's Note:**

> Everyone involved:  
> —@mermaid-lance (beta)  
> —@TeaCusp [(art)](http://teacusp.tumblr.com/post/157514742153/a-collection-of-shenanigans-from-daddyroboarm)  
> —@daves-art [(art)](http://daves-art.tumblr.com/post/157487357086/my-piece-for-the-voltronbigbang-this-is-based)  
> —@Kibarockz79 ([art](http://kibarockz79.tumblr.com/post/157492259591/allura-lecturing-the-paladins-from-locked-in-by))


End file.
